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Lithuania

Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuva) officially the Republic of Lithuania is a member of the European Union since 1 May 2004. It is in Northern Europe. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden and Denmark. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Kaliningrad Oblast (a Russian exclave) to the southwest.

Capital

Vilnius

Population

3.36 million

Area

Law enforcement agencies

The goal of the Financial Crime Investigation Service, which falls under the Ministry of the Interior, is to elaborate methods of combating criminal activities against the state financial system. In pursuing this goal, the FCIS plays an active part in implementing the national programmes of crime prevention and control. The Service pursues its goals by implementing operational measures, disclosing, preventing and conducting the pre-trial investigation of criminal acts, implementing measures to combat money laundering, and the means, which control the legitimacy of the receipt and use of the financial support funds of the European Union and other countries.

Contact details

The Lithuanian Police is comprised of the Police Department under the Ministry of the Interior, local police branches, special police institutions and educational police institutions. The Police Department helps the Police Commissioner General to create a strategy of activities and control its implementation. The Department is also responsible for managing local police branches. Local police branches are police offices located in the community that are responsible for executing certain functions defined by the law. Special police offices are police branches founded according to a no territorial principle. They implement functions defined by the law for this type of police department. Educational police institutions are police training institutions established by the Police Commissioner General to ensure the continuous training and professional, in-service development of police officers.

The State Security Department is a state institution accountable to the Seimas (Parliament) and the President, and charged with protecting the sovereignty of the Republic of Lithuania and its constitutional system. The Department’s role is to identify activities which constitute a threat to the security of the state, its territorial inviolability and integrity, the interests of the state, and its economic and defence potential. It combats such activities and investigates their causes with means provided by the law.

Lithuanian Customs falls under the Ministry of Finance. Its Law Enforcement branch comprises the Customs Criminal Service, Violation Prevention Divisions within the Customs Department (Headquarters) and regional Customs Houses, and the Internal Investigation Service.